So Happy Together

There's someone i'd like y'all to meet!

2011-08-05T21:38:00.000-06:00

Introducing BRONSON JAY BOWCUTT!!!

Born July 5th at 7:13 pm. Weighing in at 7 lb 3 oz and 21 in long. If I would have know he was going to be born that close to the 4th of July I would have gone for a jog or something to have him share a birthday with America. He does share a birthday with his cousin Jasper though! So that's good enough :)

The story...

Please do not click on this picture to make it bigger. Your computer monitor may break! Yes that is my real stomach, no I was not pregnant with twins, yes I was aware how huge I was, no I did not need help holding my belly up, yes I was aware I still had almost 2 weeks until my due date. I was so sick of answering these questions EVERYWHERE I went that I almost made a T-shirt that had all the answers on it to wear when I went out. I know I look like a freak, but the comments I got from people were hilarious. Seriously, I could not go out in public without people stopping me. And it had been going on for months! The look on some of their faces when I would tell them I still had 2 months to go was priceless. Anyway, with my other 2 boys I went almost a week past my due date and never dilated past a 1. With this one, however, I was dilated to a 2 the first time I was checked. Every appt. after that I kept getting further and further along.

I had been so busy with young women stuff all summer that I was kind of excited to relax for the last 2 weeks and enjoy the summer with my boys. I was totally fine with the idea of going past my due date. I just planned on it. I had been feeling mild contractions for several weeks but nothing that took my breath away. About 4 am on the 5th some contractions woke me up. They weren't bad so I didn't panic, but then I started thinking of how unprepared I was to have a baby. We still needed a carseat and a few other things for the baby, plus I had loads of laundry to do and bathrooms to clean. Thats when I panicked! By the time the boys woke up the contractions had stopped. I didn't even tell Jared about it cuz he had a very busy week at work. Plus I had a dr. appt. that day so I thought I'd wait and see what she said. I was dilated to a 5 and the doc asked if I wanted to go to the hospital. I wasn't in labor, and I really didn't want to have a baby until at least Thursday, so I said no. She told me not to wait long to go in even if the contractions weren't regular. I called Jared after my appt. but told him not to worry because I wasn't in labor. He was waiting at our house when I got home :) I tried to get some things done around the house but every time I moved I started having contractions. So he decided we better go in. I secretly went and fixed my hair and changed the laundry. I knew they weren't going to let me eat anything at the hospital so we tried to stop for icecream on the way but couldn't find anything that looked good. Plus i was starting to get uncomfortable. The ladies that checked me in at the hospital looked at me with a doubtful look like "girlfriend you're going to be sent home". But when they checked me I was dilated to 6! It was so crazy that I was still not in a ton of pain. This was so different than my other two experiences.
From there it all went so fast. My contractions definitely got stronger and then I knew it was for real. My doc said that after she broke my water he would be born soon after. And he was! Less than 2 hours after we got to the hospital little Bronson was in my arms. And he is beautiful! I know all mom's think their baby's are beautiful, but i'll be the first to admit, my newborns are usually kinda weird looking. Of coarse I love them, but this baby is by far the best looking newborn we've had :)

This is one PROUD big brother!

One scrappy, mischiveous, excited, big brother. Who ALWAYS has bed head :)

One sweet daddy. He loves these boys. I'm terrified at the thought of how much he would spoil a little girl!

And one tired, exhausted, tired, exhausted, tired, extremely happy mommy!

A lot happened in the year I took off blogging. New job, new house, new baby. Truthfully though I didn't really take a year off. I just counted and I have 22 posts that are done they just need to be posted. I was waiting to get all caught up before I posted them but who am I kidding right? With the pressure I was getting to see updates of this darling baby from certain family members and friends who are far away, I decided to jump ahead. So if I end up posting those other posts from the year (and hopefully I do cuz there is some good stuff; Parker's first day of Kindergarten, Christmas in Utah, a trip to Costa Rica, stuff I don't want to forget) I will refer back to that date. But for now, look at this cute face!

This baby is so, so, loved :)

More to come...hopefully haha!

VISITORS!!!

2010-07-31T12:36:00.001-06:00

We had visitors come to Texas!!! Nana, Papa, and uncle TJ came to see us after having a Flooring America conference in Houston. Too bad is was only a week after we had been with them in Utah, but we'll take em when we can get em! We had so much fun and were finally able to get out and have some good ol Texas fun.

(The boys were obsessed with TJ's i.....something. One of those "i" things)

We went and took a tour of the new Cowboys stadium. Holy crap. They are not kidding about the size of that screen! I can only imagine what a Garth concert would be like at this place....

Playing on the field

Fun in the end zone!

Jared wishing he was a skanky Cowboys cheerleader

Trevor, Jared, and Parker in the player's lockerroom

They boys holding a press conference after the big game
We also braved the insane heat and spent the day at 6 FLAGS!

It was soooo hot!

This kid is fearless on the rides! He was so sad that he was barely too short for some of the rollercoasters.

He somehow talked his dad and Nana into riding this one with him. This is when they started out. Notice their smiles?

A couple of seconds later....not such a good idea after all :)

And Tage was heartbroken because he was too little for that one. So sad.

But daddy saved the day and won these...

By doing this!...His kids were so proud!

It was so much fun!

Nana, Papa, and TJ left 2 days before Tage's 2nd birthday so we had a little celebration before we sent them off.

He's so funny

We'll miss you guys! Hopefully next time you come you won't have to sleep on a couch in a tiny living room!

The journey back home

2010-07-15T22:27:00.001-06:00

Here's some advice. Don't EVER fly stand by, husbandless, with 2 small children, in July. Just don't do it. Save yourself the stress, grief, and sweet, precious, TIME, and buy a regular old ticket. It's just not worth it. A big shout out to our wonderful family for letting us crash at their house for a few days (Lesha), and for driving us to and from the airport several days in a row (Wendy and Brenda). That's right. We spent THREE long days in the airport before we got on a flight home. The good news: we had someone to pick us up at the end of each day and take us to a comfortable, free, place to sleep. The bad news: Our luggage made it back to Dallas on the first day with all of our clothes. Sooo, we had to wear the same clothes for 3 days in a row :) I actually don't think I've worn the pink dress I had on since. I look at it and shudder at the thought. Luckily I had extras for the boys in my carry on. But I was stuck. In the same pink dress for THREE long days. Not sure what I was thinking.

(Wish it could have been me taking the nap)

Looking back now I can kind of laugh. But at the time it was devistating. I missed Jared, the kids hadn't seen their dad in 3 weeks, I had a stroller, 3 heavy carry on's, a toddler who wouldn't stay by me, and a very, very bored 5 year old.

I was done being a single mom and we all needed the comfort of our own lives back. And for any of you wondering, crying does not get you your way. I am not an emotional person, at all. But I think I started bawling every time those dang gate checkers denied me. I was an emotional wreck by this point in our vacation and so, so ready to be done. On one of the days I refused to pay the $4 to use the luggage cart (seriously, what a rip off!!!). The carry on's were too heavy for Parker and we had left the stroller in Nana's car. So I was carrying 3 heavy bags, gripping Tage's hand for dear life, and trying to rush around the airport from gate to gate giving my sob story to anyone who looked like they might have sympathy and get me on a plane. No luck. I was at my worst. So I threw my bags down, threatened the boys with their lives if they moved, slid into one of those old phone booths, and cried like a baby. I couldn't believe that I was the freak show that everyone was watching. You know how the airport is usually fun because you can people watch and make fun of all the crazies you see? Ya, I was the crazy. And nobody ever offered to help me (probably because they were scared). They just stared.

(Watching a movie)

(I chased him all around the airport while he pushed an empty stroller. But it kept him from screaming!)

We finally got on the last flight on the 3rd day. We were just a little more than excited.

And the boys were even more excited to see their daddy!

Texas has never been so welcoming :)

Saying goodbye

2010-07-11T21:21:00.000-06:00

(Mom and Dad, I hope this post doesn't make you sad. Since I am actually posting it loooong after you've already left on your mission. We miss you :( You're really the only reason I'm still blogging so hopefully I'm caught up with our current lives before you get home)

Saying goodbye to my mom and dad was a very strange thing. Since we would be going back to Texas in a few days, we were saying goodbye to everyone. So it was hard for my brain to wrap around the idea that it would be a really long time before we would see my parents. And that they would be so far away. Sitting here writing about it now makes me cry big, sad, tears, but at the time we were all so excited for them. I'm so happy I caught this on camera. This is Parker showing his Grandma how tall he will be when she gets home.

And I LOVE this picture of Tage and my mom. Messy face and all.

These boys will sure miss their Grandma and Grandpa.

And my mom will sure miss these dogs.....and her grand kids :)

Thank you mom and dad for setting this example for us. Your entire lives have been dedicated to serving others and our family has been, and will be blessed because of that. I have a feeling your service in the missionary field has only just begun.

Nordfelt reunion

2010-07-10T22:00:00.002-06:00

We were lucky enough to still be in Utah for the Nordfelt reunion in Moab! This is my mom's side of the family and they never disappoint in the entertainment department. We ALWAYS have a good time with these guys. No matter what. Plus, my uncles feed us like royalty, so how can we not enjoy ourselves?
However, the Springer's would not be Springer's without bringing a little drama. The majority of us (Norm, Dana, Wendy, Ben, Lesha, Lake, Kenzie, Sedelle, Freeman, Jill, Parker, Tage) decided to rent a huge stinky van that smelled of cat litter, and a big RV to pull up the mountain so we would have a home base while camping. The other's (Andy, Kelly, Hayden, Cole, Hudson, Casey, LaTisha, Jared, Daiana, Leila, Conrad) met up there. It's a pretty good climb to the camping spot, but we were assured that the van pulling the RV would for sure make it. No problem.

(Parker asleep on the way there with a super unsafe seat belt job)

Well there was a problem. Half way up we knew we would not make it. We were barely moving and getting slower. The dirt road was very narrow with a good size slope on one side. Nobody really wanted to tumble down it with the massive RV on top of us.

We started to get quite the line of cars behind us since they could not go around. Nobody was very happy about this. We knew the campsite was close but not exactly sure how close and we couldn't get a hold of any of my uncles to come give us a boost. So I was volunteered to run up the hill and find someone at the campsite to help. Since I had just done it at the Wasatch back it should be easy right? Wrong! Running up hills is apparently not my thing. Not sure how far I had to run, but uncle Craig picked me up about 100 yards from my destination and drove me back down to get the others. They were able to pull us free and we made it to our spot, happy to be alive :)

First things first, wrestle uncle "Superman"! (Kirtly)

Next on the list was to get rid of as many cow pies as we could. My dad was really good at this.

Here is our home base. Stinky or not, it was sure nice to have.

Most of the group around the fire,

It was a little difficult to be there as a single mom without Jared. I have a bit of a dirt phobia. So when Tage was taking "dirt baths" ever other minute, I got a little stressed. I know (insert Casey's pretend Mom voice), "He's a boy, let him play in the dirt for goodness sake!", and , "You're camping! Everyone is going to be dirty!". Heard it the whole time we were there. But seriously, look at him!!! He was a disaster. However, I don't know that I have ever seen the kid so happy and content. He could have played in that tiny dirt pile forever. Good thing Grandpa scooped up all those cow pies!

Hudson got in on the action as well

Besides scooping up cow pies and taking dirt baths, here is how we spent our days,

Flag football & baseball for both young and old (check out my cute niece Sedelle with all of those boys!)

Ate delicious food cooked by our chefs (my mom's brother's), Kirtly, Craig, and Dennis

Rafting down the river (Katelin, Sedelle, Parker, Cole)

Kelly Springer and I stayed at camp with the munchkins (Tage, Kanyon, Hudson) and went for walks,

Saw some deer,

rode in the ranger

And took naps. (even Kelly and I. Sweeet!)

Went hiking through "dangerous Indian territory"

Tage fell asleep on my shoulder so I had to carry him the whole time.

Saw dinosaur tracks (Kenzie, Sedelle, Hayden, Parker)

Visited "John" (Don't worry Wendy, the person in this picture shall remain anonymous)

Went fishing (Cole, Lake, Hayden, Sedelle, Kenzie, Parker)

Went on 4 wheeler rides with uncle Urb (Jared, Cole, Parker)

And ranger rides with...everyone (Freeman, Sedelle, Kenzie, Tage, Leila, Daiana) I love this picture.

And this one :)

Attacked uncle Homer every chance we got (Casey, Tage, Freeman)

Relaxed (Tage Hudson, Freeman)

Jill, Wendy, Casey

Maybe a little too much relaxin. Haha! (Lesha, Casey, Dad)

Consumed hundreds of smores

Listened to Dad sing "the missionary song", "the other day I saw a bear" and many more classics around the fire

Did a little campfire snuggling. Please don't judge us for our appearence. Not only do we play in the dirt while camping, we also wear mismatching clothes. It's cool.

Tish did some last minute hair cut jobs for the soon to be missionaries,

Saw some amazing scenery

Spent some much needed time with our wonderful family. Here are all of the Springer cousins piled in the ranger for a terrible cousin picture. Sorry mom, we tried :) (Back row: uncooperative Freeman, helpful Kenzie, Cole, Parker. Front row: Leila, Tage, Hudson, Hayden, Lake, Sedelle. Not pictured: Conrad)

And many aunts, uncles, cousins, and cousins kids. Wish I would have gotten more pics of everyone. (Dad, Craig, Mom, Dixie)

One of my favorite parts of the week was when uncle Kirtly presented his "Indian hunting leaders" with special surprises...which just so happened to be knives for the younger kids, and full on swords for the older ones. Real ones. I was a little nervous about my 5 year old son having a pocket knife until I saw my 11 year old nephew with a sword. Yikes! Holy cow the looks on these kids faces when he called them up one by one for their "brave acts" in leading us away from the indians was the sweetest thing ever.

Another sweet thing was watching my parents say goodbye to everyone before we left to go home. They were leaving on their mission 2 days later so they knew they weren't going to see anyone for a while. This is a picture of my mom and uncle Larry. He passed away from cancer 2 months after this was taken.

It was a great trip. But we were happy to be home to soft beds and showers. This last picture of Sedelle pretty much sums up how we all felt...Thanks for the good time Nordfelts! Hopefully we'll see more of you here in 2 years!

Independence day and backyard fun

2010-07-07T21:32:00.000-06:00

We spent the 3rd of July at Jared and Daiana's beautiful new house with some friends and family.

Tage was not a fan of the fireworks. Luckily Grandma has more sympathy than I do.

The next night, on the 4th, he was much braver. We spent Independence day with most of Jared's family. Tanyon, Tage, Maddie, Parker, Connor, Ava, Nate. (Not pictured is Hallee and Porter. Not sure where they are)

Nana & Papa

Dusty & Breck

And the nerds, Dusty, Lynette, Nate. Loving their new phones.

I LOVE this holiday. Warm weather, family, freedom, bbq, potato salad, juicy watermelon, baked beans, fresh fruit and veggies...I could go on and on. I'm proud to be an American!!!

Speaking of warm weather, uncle T.J. has the best ideas when we need to cool off. (Lexy, Ana, Parker, Tanyon, Tage, and Addison)

WATERFIGHT!!!

Addison and I both agreed. This was a lot of fun to watch. As long as we weren't the ones getting wet :)

Utah part....?

2010-07-05T14:56:00.000-06:00

Because we were in Utah for a month, we were able to see and do so many things with some of our favorite people. Here is a travel log of some of the fun we were able to have...

My good friend Tracee starred as "Wendy" in "Peter Pan"! It was so much fun to see her in action, and flying through the air!

Saw the new Twilight movie with the girls (Miles, my mom, Wendy)

Helped the folks move out of their house of 23 years. Don't let the smiles fool you. We were all so exhausted and it was a very sad day. (Ben, Bernie, Dad, Wendy, Mom, me)

Here are the hand (Wendy's foot ) prints of all 6 kids from when we moved into the house. Kind of hard to see, but I'm so happy they are still there.

Swam at our old neighborhood pool with some of our old neighbors! (Cole, Ethan, Parker, D.J.) They acted like they had never been apart!

and some of their moms (Brittani, Megan, Jill, Mindy) Not sure why I didn't get a pic of all of us!

Hung out with our favorite girls, the Johnsens! (Parker & Brynleigh)

Witnessed a sad, sad, day as my mom and Wendy opened up their last bottle of Winder Dairy milk. Tragic...

Tage spent lots of time tormenting the dogs (Bernie, Chester). I'll never understand why they don't just stay away from him!

And last but not least....welcomed baby Jasper into the Bowcutt family!! I prayed and prayed that we would still be here when he was born. He was due the day before we were supposed to leave (I think). But he listened to his favorite aunt and came early :) But then we had to turn around and leave when he was so tiny, only to have to wait until he was grown up to see him again :(

Now that is the smile of one PROUD daddy!

Utah part 3...kind of

2010-06-26T22:27:00.001-06:00

Reason # 7 that we made the trip to Utah was so that our wonderful family could watch our wonderfully crazy kids while Jared and I went on our final Bowcutt's Flooring America trip. The destination...

St. Johns Virgin Islands. W.O.W.

I thought I would get claustrophobic because it's such a tiny island and everywhere you turn you're surrounded by water. The only transportation to the island is by ferry. Sooo, I was a little nervous. But when our boat arrived I was in shock at how lush and green everything was! They literally cut chunks out of the mountains and threw in houses and tiny narrow roads. It was crazy. There would be a chunk of enormous mansions and across the street is a little house with goats running around. Nuts.

(Miles, we named this little guy after you). These creepers popped up everywhere. This particular one had a thing for Jared and would not stop staring him down. (that has nothing to do with why we named him Miles. He just reminded us of you)

Unfortunately it rained every day we were there so this was our best view. It was still beautiful but disappointing that we couldn't see any islands beyond our own.

This is "Trunk Bay" rated one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world. You gotta see it to believe it folks.

Jared and our friend Mike started up a friendly volleyball game with a bunch of kids in the pool. Lets just say it wasn't hard to spot either of them.

On this rainy day we sailed over to Foxy's. This is actually on the British islands, but apparently it's world famous for New Years Eve party's for the rich and famous. My battery died right when our boat docked so this was my only pic. But I did get some great video footage of foxy himself chatting with us. He's like an old bum that is filthy rich but you'd never know it. We also stopped at the "Soggy dollar Bar". The water was like super salty bathwater. Seriously it was amazing. Minus the salty part.

We were promised that the sun was going to come out for a few hours on our last day, so we rented this little "dingy" with our new BFF's, Mike and Leslie and headed over to Trunk Bay to see it up close.

Almost there! See how the sun is starting to shine! Wahoo!!

Words nor pictures will ever do this place justice when the sun is shining! The sun completely changed the water and it was the most glorious color I have ever seen. I want to paint my house in this color. All of it.

The water was completely clear and the same temperature as bath water. You could see everything on the ocean floor. I have never been in an ocean, or any body of water, where you can just walk into the water and not feel the shiver up your spine for a second. This is my kind of ocean! And I wanted to eat the sand because it looked and felt like brown sugar :)We stayed here for a few hours until I was attacked by a seagull who wanted my sandwich, and it started to rain again. But those few hours of sunshine made this trip totally worth it.

Our last night, last fruity drink, and last sunset by the ocean. Ahh, it was awesome.

Farewell Elder and Sister Springer!

2010-06-20T13:37:00.002-06:00

One of the most important reasons we took this trip to Utah was to be there for my parents' mission farewell. There were so many things about the farewell that I never want to forget.

Seeing Luke and Ruthie hanging out at the after party...This still makes my heart smile :)

The Brockbank family,well, a few of them (Lori, Jillybean, Carlie). Some of my favorite people :)..

The Westbergs were in town! (Todd with Drew and Jared)

Hanging out with my mom and sis and taking maybe the only mother/daughters photo in the history of us being mother/daughters....

Seeing Parker interacting with the cousins he misses so so much...

(Cole, Parker)

um...not sure what to say about this except that Andy hasn't changed much since he was a 10 year old boy...

Getting our ENTIRE family together for a pic in front of my parent's house

And finishing off the evening with a game of "hot box". We used to play this on Sunday afternoons as a family in this exact same spot. Oh the memories...

(Parks, Hayden, Cole, Casey, Jared. I'm sure Lake was there somewhere)

On a more serious note, some things I really hope to remember for a long, long time, is *seeing the amount of support my parents received from friends, family, and ward members. I always knew they were awesome people, but it was so cool to see how many others have been influenced by my parents as well. *The musical number during sacrament meeting...they had the whole family, kids, grand kids, siblings, nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews, everyone there who is a family member in some way to my parents, get up and sing "I'll go where you want me to go". It was an emotional site to look around and see the choir seats overflowing with people my parents love and who love them, aunt Rose leading the music, aunt Gay playing the piano. It was amazing. *Hearing my parents bear testimony in Norwegian (their new native language) even though they have only been learning it for a very short time. *And finally, seeing my dad get emotional. In my 29 years of life, I can not recall one time where I have seen my dad get emotional. Not one. It was funny to look around at my siblings faces and see the same look of shock that I felt on my own. And the sweet part was he didn't get emotional when he talked about leaving all of us behind, it was when he talked about my mom.

Thanks mom and dad for your love, support and example. I want to be just like you when I grow up :)

Utah part 2...Wasatch Back

2010-06-19T17:16:00.001-06:00

This is one of my favorite races ever. I can't really explain why. To most people the thought of sitting in a van full of sweaty, stinky people for more than 24 hours, running all through the night, and getting no sleep doesn't sound like much fun. But to those who do it, for some reason it just is!

For this race you run from Logan Utah to Park City in a team of 12. Six runners in van 1 and six in van 2.

This year we were on team "Wolfpack". Our good friend Phil had asked if Jared and I wanted to run on his family team several months ago. I of coarse said for sure! And talked Jared into it. Then we moved to Texas and plans changed. So I talked my cute little sister Wendy into filling in for Jared. Let me just say this...those Wolfgramms are extremely entertaining!!! We had a blast getting to know their family and sitting in a sweaty, stinky truck with them (except for when it was our turn to sit in the back of the truck to air off :))

I'm really, really, missing Utah's breathtaking mountains in Texas. So I may have gone a little overboard on my scenic pics. But I just couldn't stop staring at them! They are so beautiful. And we ran past some gorgeous scenery. I get chills just thinking about it.

Since we were in van 2, that put us running in the middle of the night. I think we started our second legs around midnight or so. Here's what our van was looking like at this point, me trying to get some shut eye before my 9.6 miles at 2 a.m.

And psycho here who is used to no sleep wide awake and wired! It reminded me of all those Christmas mornings where we had to tell Wendy to go back to bed.

I think this is Jordanelle reservoir

Ugh, this hill almost killed me! Have I mentioned how FLATTexas is? The hills I trained on in Texas were nothing compared to this monster. I was runner 9 so I ran the first 3 miles or so up the "Ragnar" hill. At first I thought, "3 miles? I can do anything for 3 miles". Boy was I WRONG!About half way up I told my sister to break my legs for me so I could quit. Just kidding. But for real. I'd rather run a marathon any day than this. (part of me secretly wants to go back and conquer that hill though. Now that I know what I'm getting myself into. What's wrong with me?)

This is me FINALLY passing the bracelet to Phil who had to run the rest of the way up the Ragnar. I looked/felt like death and he was all chipper and fired up. Good ridden Phil!

Wendy running among the beautiful trees. There was still snow up there!

Wendy's final run and water break. This is where I broke the news to her that they had changed her leg last minute. Due to coarse obstruction, they added another mile or 2 (I can't remember) to her leg. Ha ha! Poor thing.

Since they let WAY too many people run this dang race, we didn't even make it to the finish line to cross with our team or to see poor Geoff finish. So this was the only after pic we got. We were tired, hungry, and stinky. But it sure was fun! Ha ha! Anyone up for trying this out next year?

Utah part 1

2010-06-16T13:48:00.001-06:00

Well, It may take a year or so to post about our month long trip back to Utah because I took around 550 pics while we were gone. And I am determined to post every single picture! Kidding. We had such a great time though and pictures is what keeps my memory alive. So It will be super, duper long. Here's how it started. The 2 little one's and I flew in early in the week because I had to be in Utah for a race that started on Friday. Jared couldn't miss that much work, so he flew in on Saturday in time for my parent's mission farewell. The boys and I made a bad decision to fly stand by (in July. DON'T EVER DO THAT!) so we were stuck in the DFW airport for over 7 hours. Even better, we had left the cord to our DVD player home :) So...we were bored.

Tage is always happy though.

I had wrapped little presents/surprises for the boys to open randomly during the flight to keep them entertained and so they wouldn't bother other passengers. Unfortunately all the surprises were opened during our 7 hour waiting time. Parker got little Star Wars guys and he instantly made a new friend in every gate we waited at. So that took up a few hours. We did a lot of walking around (Parker pushing Tage in the stroller, and me pushing a luggage cart with 3 heavy carry on's). And I even let my kids play on the nasty airport toys. I was desperate people.

We finally made it on the last flight of the night. Phewww. The boys were so much fun to watch as the plane took off. Parker didn't take his nose from the window the entire flight and kept yelling, "Mom look at this"! Tage on the other hand was terrified of falling out.

First things first, we had to meet this new little guy! Our new nephew/cousin Conrad! He was about a week old when we met him and the cutest little thing.

After meeting Conrad, we took Leila back home to Grandma's so her and Tager could play. Do you think they missed each other? (click to see true facials. It's adorable)

So maybe it was a little one sided on Tage's part. He could not stop hugging her!!! And thankfully I was in the right place at the right time!

This one makes me cry laughing every time I look at it. He's just so happy and she's like,"get off me you psycho!"

Next stop was Porter's one year old birthday party! Can you believe his cake? I must note that this is the one he got to DESTROY! His mom spent all that time and effort on a cake that her 1 year old would rip apart. She's amazing. Props to you Breck!

Ok, so maybe his cousins helped him destroy it a little.

My baby is getting big!

2010-06-02T21:08:00.000-06:00

Parker decided to grow up this summer. Even though I begged him not to. He has had so much fun learning new things. It has been incredible for Jared and I to watch our first born accomplish so many little things that he's so proud of. His joy is so simple. You should have seen his face when he got his snap down perfect for the first time. He was so happy! He had practiced it for days and one day it just clicked. I wish I could remember the day I learned to snap.

He also learned to swim in the deep water. He could swim last year but he never dared swim in deep water because he knew he couldn't touch. He saw one of his friends out here doing flips off of his diving board and the very next time we were at the pool Parker told me he wanted to swim in the deep water so he could do flips like Clark. And away he went! I kinda freaked out and got ready to jump in in case he panicked, but he swam across the pool then looked up at me with the biggest grin. He can now do flips off of his friends diving board :)

He's still working on the tying of the shoes, but that's ok. He's too impatient (wonder where he gets that from?). Plus who wears shoes in the summer anyway!

But none of these came close to how bad he wanted to learn to ride his bike without training wheels. Oh my goodness the kid was obsessed.

He started out with help from his daddy, but then they both lost patience. So he practiced on his own until he got it! He's actually quite cocky about it. He was bragging to me one day about how his friend who is older than him still has training wheels.

We're still working on his humility.

Sweet life of summer time

2010-06-01T20:29:00.004-06:00

We LOVE summertime at our house.

Here are a few things we did before we took off to Utah for a whole month.

We spent a lot of time swimming. Here we are on Memorial Day at our Bishop's house. Nice backyard for a swimming bbq right?

We seriously swam almost every day. Sometimes twice a day.

Tage just likes to dangle his feet :)

Parker woke up one morning feeling like doing a little Yoga. For real. He woke up, said, "ahh, I think I'm going to do some yoga." Got out my mat and a DVD, and followed it for about 10 minutes. Then said, "I feel much better now."

I think he learned this from his uncle Homer (Casey). It's just a matter of time before he starts the "3 stages of drying and lathering" when he gets out of the shower.

Because we were so ~~lazy~~ relaxed this summer, and because it got so hot we couldn't do anything but swim outside, I had to get a little creative. Parker thought he needed to be surrounded by his new friends every waking moment. And I tend to get a little jealous. So one day I held his attention for about 30 min. while they colored themselves on paper.

If you look closely at Parker you will see that one of his eyes is different colors. The top is a greenish blue color and one section at the bottom of his eye is totally brown. It's crazy. He calls it his "Tiger eye" and he really believes that it gives him super powers. For example, he truly thinks he can see better and further away than anyone else because of this eye. I don't know, maybe he can! I loved how he captured his "tiger eye" in his self portrait though. So cute.

I promise my children do wear clothes. Just not very often. Tage's pants don't stay up, and Parker thinks it's too hot to wear a shirt. In fact none of his friends wear shirts!

See!!!

Here's to the rest of a great summer! (and more freshly squeezed lemonade). Cheers!!!

A day at the beach

2010-05-15T21:27:00.000-06:00

Remember all of that rain that cancelled the father's and sons camp out? Not only did we get to enjoy this beautiful rainbow out our window, but after it stopped we also got to play at our own private beach!

OK, maybe it was just the sand volley ball pit in our back yard that was full of water. But still. It was hot, sandy, and we were the only ones there! Sounds like a private beach to me:)

What started out as a friendly stroll to the park, turned into a full on immersion in the sandy water. Jared was horrified when he came home and saw Tage out there in just his diaper. "White trash"! he was calling us. But guess what? He doesn't do a lick of laundry around here. And one set of sandy filthy clothes was enough for me.

It actually was quite fun to watch.

Father's and son's. Bowcutt style!

2010-05-14T23:09:00.000-06:00

Well, not really. But we didn't have a lot of options.

The father's and son's camp out was cancelled due to severe rain storms. The storms here in Texas are much more terrifying than in Utah. Maybe it's just because I'm waiting for a tornado to hit. Either way, I was ready with my bottled water and helmets just in case those warning sirens went off :) Parker was absolutely devastated he couldn't go on the camp out with his dad. So I had this bright idea to stick the tent in our living room. Just to give him something fun to do that night. The thing I didn't think about was that the tent and the living room are about the same size! After re-arranging some furniture we were able to make it work.

So we grabbed pillows, blankets and couch cushions, popped some corn, and watched "Astro Boy". Then we proceeded to sleep in the tent. I feel like I gave it a good effort. I lasted about 10 minutes and thought, "forget this! This is father's and sons and I have a very comfortable bed 10 feet away!" Jared was a trouper and Parker had a blast :)

Playin it rough.

2010-05-12T20:43:00.000-06:00

It's beginning to look a lot like summer!! (I guess bruised legs is better than holy jeans, right?)

(Parker and his friend Ethan showing off their sexy, bumped up legs. May, 2010)

Family home evening

2010-05-10T23:03:00.001-06:00

We may not have a yard, but we have a heck of a field behind our apartment that is perfect for a little FHE baseball. We were told to enjoy being outsided while we could before we melt in the hot sun.

And so we did :)

Mother's Day 2010

2010-05-09T23:00:00.000-06:00

Mother's day weekend was so much fun for us. We started off on Saturday running a mother's day (actually i think it was called Triumph over pain) race in Mckinney. It was Parker's first official race where he was signed up, got a shirt, medal, and an "on your mark, get set, go" at the beginning. He made sure to stretch really well before the start. This particular stretch is one he made up himself. He actually makes sure I do this after my runs also. But I don't think my tongue is hanging out quite as much as his is.

Check out that beautiful Texas sun beating down on us!

I'm pretty sure he smiled like this during the entire race. He was so excited and ran the entire time! He finished in under 10 minutes which I thought was pretty good for a 5 year old! I was one proud mother.

I ran the 5K after he finished. He said he was proud of me too :)

Later that night we went to the FC Dallas soccer match. They are the professional team here in Dallas. Our neighbor works for the team so he's given us a bunch of free tickets.

Jared actually pulled off the breakfast in bed thing for real this year. He tries every year but I'm usually already up and showered before he gets around to it. Then I have to get back in bed and pretend I'm just waking up for Parker to bring me my breakfast. But as you can tell from my appearance, I truely did wake up to breakfast in bed. And what a feast it was! I'm not sure who Jared thinks I am but here is what they brough me: 2 waffles with strawberries

toast

bacon

sausage

eggs

a bowl of fruit

orange juice

chocolate milk

I mean, i've been known to pack it in, but this was serious! Luckily Tager was there to help me eat it! My boys wouldn't let me do a thing all day so it was lovely. Thanks boys. You make me so happy!

splishin' and a splashin'

2010-05-06T22:00:00.000-06:00

Since spring/summer starts earlier in Texas than it does in Utah, we were able to enjoy the hot sunshine shortly after we moved here! What a blessing! (notice how pasty my kids are next to the others)! We went with some of our new friends to a super cool splash park in Allen. Here is parker with his new buds Cameron and Clark. They are both going to be in kindergarten next year also! And can you sense the instant connection? Weapons and imaginations only a 5 year old can have=instant BFF's for Parks.

My cute, happy, baby hiding from me in a tunnel

See how pumped Tage is watching from a distance with his hair blowing in the wind? 2 seconds after I took this picture, water from a big bucket directly above his head landed right on top of him. He freaked out and I'm pretty sure everyone there thought he had just gotten one of his limbs cut off. Awesome.

Life in Texas

2010-05-02T21:12:00.000-06:00

Once the rush of unpacking and trying to squeeze all of our belonging into a 1100 sf. apartment settled, we needed something to do. So here is how we spent our first few weeks in our new home. Parker kept busy making friends with anyone he could make eye contact with, while Tage and I stayed inside and played with the toys he hadn't seen in a month or so.

I still can't get over how incredibly nice the people here are. Our ward has welcomed us in like we are old friends they haven't seen in a while. Within a week of being here i joined a group of them to run with every morning, we were invited to dinner by 2 different families, to the park for a play group, and to the Frisco firestation for another one. Us Utahn's have so much to learn from these people. get out and meet your neighbors!!! Who cares if you don't know them or don't think you have anything in common. Or if you think you don't need to invite them because they have family around. I realize now how much time I wasted in Riverton not getting to know my neighbors better. It makes me so sad to think of peole who could have really become my friends and taugh me valuable lessons.

We also went on walks to become more familiar with our surroundings. This beautiful pond was stocked with colorful fish, and lush greenery. And it was in a neighborhood! (not ours unfortunately).

And last but not least, we spent much of our time watching the Jazz lose in the playoffs. Just like we do every year. Bummer. This picture was while they were winning obviously. We don't have our t.v. hooked up (and I'm not going rush anyone into it. It's great!) But it made watching the playoffs difficult. We had to watch it on the computer in our room/office.

So far we're fixin to have a good ol' time in Texas! (I've always wanted to say that).

I'm a tall, tall Texan...

2010-04-18T21:00:00.000-06:00

(this post is in honor of my dad. Who is far, far away in Norway right now)

We're all settled now. And time to update :) It was quite a challange trying to squeeze so much crap into a 2 bedroom apartment. I think my mom wanted to cry when she saw how much stuff we had to find places for. And I think I actually did cry.

First things first, If we were to get anywhere in the unpacking process, we had to trap

Tage. This make-shift trap worked great for about 30 seconds.

Then we moved on to bigger and better entertainment and put on a show. Ahh, brotherly love, Isn't it so sweet!

Luckily we moved fast with the help of some nice neighbors and my poor parents. So we were able to spend a little bit of time goofing off with Grandma and Grandpa before they flew back to Utah.

The journey begins

2010-04-16T07:11:00.000-06:00

The 2 in a half day drive to Texas wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We were very lucky to have my parents with us or we would never have made it. Jared drove the enormous moving truck, my mom and I rolled in the sweet mini van, and my dad got my white Toyota all to himself. We were supposed to get a trailer to pull the Toyota but of coarse they didn't have one like they promised. So we had to drive 3 vehicles. It worked out though. And I was quite a bit jealous of the alone time and silence my dad and Jared experienced. It was also weird to think that everything we owned was either in front of me in the truck, or behind me in the Toyota on it's way to Texas.

Luckily there wasn't too much of this...

but lot's of this...

We stopped in Moab on our way down to visit my Aunt and uncle. It's always an adventure when we visit Bonnie and Larry :) The boys went on a little walk to stretch their legs.

Then we stopped for a special surprise to see my mom's old "Dairy Freeze"! This is the business my grandpa Nordfelt built when my mom was a kid. Her and her siblings grew up working there. Of coarse it was in MUCH better shape back then (my grandpa was a carpenter and everything he ever built was beautiful). We have heard stories about it our entire childhood. No fast food restaurants around will ever compare to "the milk shakes and french fries made out of REAL potatoes" that my mom used to make at the dairy freeze :)

We absolutely COULD NOT continue on our travels until we celebrated Parker's half birthday. He had been reminding me about it for weeks. But how much can you celebrate when your in the middle of nowhere? Really. Good thing there are more McDonalds than anything else. Even in the middle of nowhere.

I wish you could have seen what this looked like in real life because I'm telling you, I have never seen anything quite like it. That's what 2 days in the car and a couple of nasty hotel rooms will do for ya I guess!

We finally made it into Texas on the 16th. And it wouldn't be Texas without a Texas shaped waffle. It just wouldn't. I expected nothing less from these proud folks.

Next post: Our new lives as true TEXANS!!! Stay tuned ya'll.

What a disaster

2010-04-13T12:03:00.000-06:00

Moving seriously sucks!!! I'll never do it again (until I have to move out of our apartment in a year). It was an absolute mad-house trying to get out of our house in time.

We went from this...

To this

To this... in 8 days!.

With a little of this in between :)

I hated every minute of it. But in the end it actually turned into a great blessing. My brother Ben described it like ripping a bandaid off. It stings really bad at first but when it's done, it's done. No reason to prolong the pain. We had no time to really think about what was going on because we had to be out so fast. Then we were able to spend the 3 weeks or so before we left for Texas saying goodbye to our friends and family. So although it was a huge pain to get out of our house so fast, it would have been worse trying to pack and say goodbye at the same time.

Here is a little picture log of what went on while living with Jared's parents, T.J, Dusty, Breck, Tanyon, and baby Porter for 3 weeks:

Tage ~~wrestling~~ loving Porter, (this happened every 2 minutes)

building forts/destroying Nana's house,

playing at the park,

Riding scooters in style

Lot's of Wii time,

Attempted to get a cute Easter picture of my boys in their matching ties. Not so successful.

Again destroying Nana's house. This time building "houses" in the pantry as Tanyon would say.

Celebrating my 8th wedding anniversary with my sweetie and some good friends (Val, I need a copy of that group picture!)

~~Playing~~ going to Dallas with my good friend Marti to find an apartment. And to enjoy Blue Bell ice cream (yes that is all for just the two of us) and the American Girl store, (which is why I need a girl someday. Adorable!)

Enjoying Leatherby's one last time after the General Priesthood session with the Springers (some of them)

Playing "fire ball" with cousins and aunt Wendy

Flying kites on the golf coarse with Breck and Tanyon

Lunch with my oldest friends, Stacy and Emily (the other Emily couldn't make it. Because she's the lucky one who lives in Florida). But we sure missed her! We have been friends for over 23 years! That's crazy!

Stacy and I have actually been friends for longer than we can remember. When we were in like 3rd or 4th grade we had matching"bests friend" shirts made. Mine has her name and hers has mine. I found mine in my hope chest while i was packing and somehow stretched it out enough to fit me so i surprised her and showed up with it on. (I must note that these shirts were HUGE on us back in the day).

Watching uncle T.J. play baseball for Bingham high. (Don't worry fellow WJHS friends. I only cheered for T.J. not the miners)

Last play date with the Bowcutt cousins.

Here are all of the cousins except for the one in Ang's belly!

Cute Conner helping Parks fly a kite. We sure miss these kids.

Had a baby shower with my friend Brittani for this tiny princess

And her cute mom :)

Bought myself a mini van! finally! Jared swallowed his pride, but it was the best day of my life :) Our only requirement was that it wasn't blue. Ha ha. I guess price comes before beauty right?! I love it!

Dinner with our friends the Davis's, Springer's, and Behle's

Saying goodbye to Tracee, Brooks and Ellee (Tracee is another friend I've had for 20 years! Seriously, I have the best friends) and as you can tell, Parker loves Brooks.

Jared saying goodbye to his other sweetheart, Gracie. We love this little girl. Her whole family actually.

Watched them open their mission call!

They are going to the Norway, Oslo mission!!!

And as you can see from the two awkward hugs pictured below, I am no good at saying goodbye. There were several times I forgot to take my camera out while we were saying goodbye to good friends and I'm so sad about that. But you weren't missing out too much because I'm a terrible hugger :) We miss you all!

Serious spring fever, and some sad news.

2010-03-11T13:39:00.004-07:00

Ok. This is for real. And 2 of these jeans are only a month old! And one isn't even pictured because he's wearing them today. With a BIG hole in the knee. What do I do people? Ridiculous.

And it doesn't even matter where I get them. Jeans from the Gap or from Ross wear out in the same amount of time. Anyway, I think we are ready for Spring to come so we can cut these all off and make them shorts. It's either that, or we are moving to warmer weather. Somewhere like...TEXAS.

This is also for real. And if I sound upbeat and optimistic about it it's because I'm a fake. Because in real life I'm heartbroken. I'm sad to leave our families, friends, cute neighbors/hood, and our house :( After A LOT of thought and prayer, Jared has decided to leave the family flooring business and expand his horizons. He was offered a job with a medical device company selling wheel chairs last Thursday. He accepted the job Saturday, we put our house on KSL looking for a renter on Sunday, and had it rented out by Monday. It all happened so fast that now it's sinking in and I'm so emotional about it. I know it will be so good for our little family, but seriously, I love it here. Parker is OBSESSED with his cousins, has the funnest group of little friends, and loves preschool. We love our neighbors, our ward, my job (i know it's only one client, but i love her!), we have so many incredible friends that are going to go on with their lives without us. And we're not going to be here to see it. It makes me really sad. We have to be out of our house by March 20th. I really should be packing instead of blogging, but it hurts too bad to take pictures off of the walls. I feel like I just hung them up! Anyway, I've now caught up on my blog. So it's okay for me to harrass all of you who don't. That's going to be my only way of keeping up with you all so please don't be as big of a slacker as I was! We will miss so many of you it makes me cry everytime I think about it. (some of you...not so much) Just kidding :)

18 month old skinny bum.

2010-03-10T16:04:00.003-07:00

Tage was 18 months old at the end of January. I can't believe it. But what I can't believe even more than that is that this is what he looks like 90 % of the day.

His 18 month stats were phenomenal. 5th percent for weight still, 50th for height, and what do you know, he's now off the charts for his head. So basically he looks like a lolly pop. But that just makes him all the more edible :)

January and February

2010-03-10T15:05:00.007-07:00

We had a great New Years. We spent the morning being very lazy. The boys practicing their art skills and me chilling on the heater watching them. With daipers all over the house for some reason.

That night we went to their house

and had a killer time playing the butt game. It's a family favorite. Here is Jared spelling out a difficult word. Like e-g-g-n-o-g or something with his booty. So hot.

My dad with his 2 tag-a-longs :)

Here is part of the fam. that was there watching all the butt spelling. My mom must have been too embarrased to look :)

This is how we survived January. No offense to you Swens, but we don't really like January.
Tage played a lot of dress up,

Lot's of inside games like hide-n-seek. Jared got suckered into playing for the 100th time with Parker and found himself stuck in this uncomfortable spot. It was a good one though!

again entertained ourselves with Tage's crazy hair do's.

Poor baby has asthma and the inversion was killing him. He was so patient and learned to just sit in his high chair and hold his medicine in his mouth. So cute and so sad at the same time.

And this kid is now in nursery at church! Look how proud he is :)

We did a lot of baking in February. It's a good thing I had such a great little helper! And that he wore my grandma's old apron so that he didn't get dirty!

Pink sugar cookies (i think we ate these all month long)

On Valentines day this year we had Stake conference. So I celebrated Valentines day with my 3 Valentines the Friday before. I made shrimp scampi and steamed asparagas. Then we had chocolate dipped goodness for dessert. We love to dip stuff in chocolate :)

Haunted...

2010-03-09T23:58:00.000-07:00

This stupid blog! It just won't leave me alone. It haunts me while I'm sleeping, showering, running, playing army/soldier with parker, sitting in church, and in everyday conversation with people I love (some of you won't give me peace until the blog is updated. Geez, relax). Just kidding. Kind of. So I think I'm back. For now anyway. The problem is that I want to be a good blogger. It helps me to keep tabs on my life and forces me to remember the little things each day that make me happy/sad/frustrated. One of my goals for this new year (3 months ago) is to focus more on positive things in my life. I figure there is so much negative around us, everywhere. And though it's important to be aware of what's out there, I'm going to try, especially on this blog, to focus more on the positive parts of being a mom, wife, and woman in today's crazy world. One of the saddest parts of my neglect to the blog is that you have missed this

turn into this

And he was so much fun to watch grow up.

So I've decided to still post some highlights from the past several months so that they can be documented. It's going to be REALLY, REALLY long. Here goes! (the most recent will be posted last so scroll down to see it in order :)

October thru December

2010-03-09T21:25:00.010-07:00

Happy Halloween! (It was only 4 in a half months ago. I'm doing pretty well!) For some reason I don't have any pictures of my boys together on Halloween. They were both little army guys and they looked adorable. I can't bellieve I don't have a picture of little army Tage :( This will have to do.

I talked Parker into using a marshmello gun instead of a "real" pretend gun. He thought he was a tough guy.

My mom finally retired! Hooray. She has done hair for over 35 years and her body is falling apart. So we had a last minute surprise retirement party the day before Thanksgiving since my brothers were in town.

We invited a few of her long time clients (as many as we thought would come on short notice)

Then each of her 6 kids put together a skit based upon what our lives were like growing up in the beauty salon and memories we had of my mom at work. I don't know if I have EVER laughed so hard in my life. I thought I was going to pass out when Tobes came running in with those hedge clippers. Oh man. THAT was funny. Here's my brother Andy demonstrating what he used to do in front of the mirror every morning :) Don't tell him I said so, but he would have made the best "drama nerd" :)

My mom with all of her grandkids (except for the one in Daiana's belly)

Some of our favorite winter activities include:
sitting on the heater with blankies every morning,

eating banana snowmen,

and playing in the snow! Well, not my favorite, but that's ok. We finally had a chance to enjoy all of the snow. It was Tage's first experience and unfortunately for me, he loved it. He wants to be outside constantly now.

Parker and his daddy built two enormous snowmen in our back yard. They were both festive (with Christmas candy for eyes and mouths) and also very multi cultural.

My parent's are going on a mission next summer, so for Christmas they wanted to do something more than just give gifts to their grandkids. They wanted to give them a memory! So they (along with my cute sister, Wendy) hauled all of the older grandkids up to Heber City to ride the Polar Express. Parker is still talking about it. What a fun idea. We will sure miss grandma and grandpa next year :(

Parker had his preschool Christmas program with Ms. Hilary. He had a lot more fun than it looks like in this picture.

He was so funny. He knew all the songs and actions perfectly but he got a little nervous and stood there with his hands in his pockets most of the time. but when it came time for him to give his part; "Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, with hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there". He said it loud and clear. I was just glad he didn't dramatize it like he did when he practiced it at home. It was hillarious.

Wow.

Each year we have a family sleepover by the Christmas tree the day before Christmas Eve. Parker LOVES it.

We had Christmas Eve at the Bowcutts house. Here is all of the caos to prove it :)

Parker is such a gem to pose so nicely for the annual Family christmas tree picture. Now he'll know what a goof he was at this age.

Ahh, Christmas morning...

Parker's favorite gift from Santa was bionacles!

Tage's was a mini basketball hoop to hang from his crib.

and an orange :)

putting bionicals together. It's a good thing he has a good dad! I took one look at that and started hyperventilating.

Christmas breakfast. Why is it that my favorite part of any holiday is the food? That's messed up.

And what kind of a Christmas would it be without Tage's crazy hair?

We had Christmas dinner with my family. It's just not the same without the Cedar/St. Goerge Springers. We sure missed ya.

And of coarse, the classic Santa picture.

FIVE!!

2010-01-28T15:41:00.004-07:00

The day finally came! (for Parker atleast) This kid counted down the days until he turned 5 for 365 days before it actually happened. Why is it that they want to grow up so fast? He was wishing he was 5 in a half 2 days after his birthday! Wow buddy, slow down. I keep thinking I'll be able to embrace each birthday, but I just can't get over how fast my babies are growing up :(
After opening presents and having a mini dance off to Monster's vs Aliens, we headed to IHOP for football french toast. Yum.

Parker's preschool class had a field trip to the pumpkin patch. What a way to spend your birthday!

As if it couldn't get any better than that, Parker's only request on the night of his big day was to attend a Jazz game. I don't think Jared or I have EVER been so proud :) This kid LOVES the Jazz. He follows the game and impresses everyone around us with his basketball knowledge. He jumps up when they cram it, talks trash to the other team, and is OBSESSED with the score (a little annoying I might add). We may have created a monster. But we had a blast and he came away with some souvenirs.

Parker had his first "real" birthday party this year. You know, the one where friends get to come. I guess family ones aren't very cool. He's been planning it for a year now. He wanted a Utah Jazz party (once again, so proud!) So we decided to have Jazz training camp to get ready for the upcoming season. He requested that everyone in attendance wear a jersy and we had a bunch of drills and exercises that would help improve basketball skills. It was hillarious. Here they are practicing shooting blindfolded.

A push up drill led by cousin Connor

Don't forget that basketball players need a strong core!

He was seriously in heaven being the center of attention for that long. Parker is such a fun, smart, social, sensitive little boy. We love him so much and would have the most BORING lives without him.

30 is HOT!

2010-01-28T13:06:00.007-07:00

Jared turned 30 on September 12th! Looking good babe!

He was feeling quite old at his birthday celebration with his family, so he did what any old "macho" man would do. He challanged his athletic, 14 year old brother, T.J. to a race in the back yard. Marshall and Angela got in on the action as well (they are also old :)

And this was the end result! Nice try sweetie, you were SOOO close! I'm just glad you didn't pull a hammy :)

Even Papa got into the race! Here's Jared's dad racing the grandkids. What a fun Papa they have!

We had a little surprise get to gether at the park on Jared's actual birthday where I made Jared wear this rediculous birthday hat :) I used this surprise as a decoy for his REAL birthday surprise which was a week later.

I was so sneaky. I showed up to Jared's work on a Tuesday afternoon and told him we needed to leave. He was kinda irritated with me because he had customer's he needed to attend to. His brother knew about my plan so he shewed Jared out the door. Little did he know I had our bags packed, kids with Nana, and we were headed to the airport. Jared absolutely HATES the unknown. He was going crazy out of his mind not having a clue where I was taking him (that was the best part. ha ha!). So he figured we were flying somewhere, since we were at the airport, and as we were waiting to get on the plane I pulled out his Yankee hat and told him he was going to need it tonight. He's a smart guy so he was only confused for a second before he freaked out :) It was so much fun surprising him! The Yankees were playing at Angels stadium in Anaheim so we went to 2 games. we were only gone for 2 days so it was a very fast trip, but so much fun! I was so happy that all those months of lies and sneaky-ness paid off. Surprises are hard work!

HELLO DEREK JETER!!!

(No, our seets were NOT this good)
My birthday is also in September, however I am not quite 30 yet :)

Parker picked my "birthday activity" which was going for a family jog to Walmart and back. It was seriously so funny! Walmart is just behind our house and he literally made us run up to the Walmart sign, touch it, and run home. What a great activity right! It was a great way to celebrate my birthday.

July thru September

2010-01-27T15:25:00.011-07:00

Tage started walking when he was 13 months old. He thinks he's so cool now. My wonderful friend Val took these great pictures for us so we could remember how cute and wobbily he was when he first started to walk. Oh how I love this age!

This is my favorite. Jared is such a sucker for these boys.

There was a puppy in front of him. He loves puppy's.

And look at those curls! I LOVE them :)

Parker loved soccer this year. He was the biggest one on his team which helped him score the most goals :) He's very competitive and intently listened to what the coach told him so that he could get better. It was fun to watch.
This is after he stole the ball from the crowd and took it down to his goal. Check out that concentration!

SCORE!

I ran the Top Of Utah marathon in September. It was by far the hardest marathon I've ever ran. But also incredibly georgous. The leaves through the canyon were starting to change color and it was breathtaking. I like to chose the scenic marathons. It gives me something to look at besides a bunch of runner's behinds in front of me :) Plus it helps take my mind off of the pain. I was able to cut over 25 minutes off my time from my last marathon so I was really happy. It's amazing what a little training can do for you!

Our first camping trip was very...interesting. We spent 2 weeks planning and getting Parker all pumped up to sleep in the mountains in a tent. Who knew you had to make reservations weeks in advance to enjoy our mountains? Not me! I called FOUR different canyons. 4. Every single spot was full for overnight camping. We were so dissapointed. We packed all our stuff anyway just incase we got lucky. But we didn't and ended up eating foil dinners, smore's, and going home. What a bummer. The kids fell asleep in the car so it was all the same to them. What a beautiful place we live in though.

Preschool started for Parker's 2nd year. This year he is going to Ms. Hilary's and he LOVES it! She has helped him improve his handwriting and has him reading books! It's crazy how fast these little kids catch on to things. He is quite the social butterfly and I have to wait at least 5 minutes after each class while he tells all of his friends bye.

He told me the other day that Ms. Hilary had to run upstairs for something and she told the class if they needed help with anything to just ask Parker. Ya, that did a lot for his confidence problem :)

Tage was beside himself with brother gone for a few hours. Actually he was napping and didn't even know. But he was sure excited to see "bubba" when we picked him up!

Parker ran his first race this summer! In a complete down pour! He had so much fun and totally thought he won :) He did really well though and ran the whole time. Even though it was freezing cold he insisted on a slurpee when he finished "because he was sooo tired". It was awesome

Hooray for summer time!!! July was spent outside. Seriously every day. It was great except for the mud, dirt, water, and sticky popcicle that came into our house by the minute. Other than that we swam, slip-and-slided, had bbq's everynight, and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Parker has made so many friends in our new neighborhood. Lucky for us these 4 boys only live a few houses away from each other. They think they own the neighborhood and are best friends (even when they are fighting, which is most of the time)

Happy Birthday Tage!

2010-01-26T22:38:00.002-07:00

Baby Tage turned 1 on July 30th. It was a bitter sweet day for me. On one hand he is at the most hillarious stage right now, but on the other he's not so much my baby Tage anymore. It is shocking how fast they grow up. I swear his first year of life went by a lot faster than Parker's did. We had a fun day starting with homemade blueberry muffins for breakfast, and a rockin party that night with friends and family. It was also Tage's first taste of chocolate cake! (atleast from me. My sis-in-law Daiana says otherwise :)

April thru June

2010-01-21T15:53:00.013-07:00

For Father's day Parker took Jared golfing. I seriously think Jared may have shed a few tears over it. He was so proud.

Tage had a lot of firsts over these months. Here are just a few fun ones.
First time with the popcorn bowl all to himself :) Dig in buddy!

First time getting caught in the act of TROUBLE!

First attempt at yoga. Hey, his down-dog is better than Jared's!

First time trying fresh pineapple :)

First time mastering the stairs!

First boat ride

First swim

I ran the Ogden marathon on May 16, 2009. It's my favorite one because the scenery is fantastic. And it's down hill most of the time:)

My fans:) My favorite sister Wendy came and rode a bike up and down the hilly coarse. She's a rock star.

Easter morning pictures. April 12, 2009

In April my entire family went to St. George to celebrate my dad's 60TH BIRTHDAY! I just love this picture of him.

My mom and dad with all of their grandkids. It was FREEZING cold and the kids were not happy about it (neither were some of the adults:)

These boys were in heaven and couldn't be apart for even a second. Lake, Hayden, Cole and Parker.

Gotta love what cousins can teach each other. I can't believe I took this picture before intervening.

Hawaii

2009-04-02T09:44:00.002-06:00

I love Jared's job. For several reasons. But one particular reason is for the free trips! Bowcutt's flooring America did some trade work with a travel agency and Jared and I were next in line for a trip. I've never been to Hawaii and Jared was anxious to go back so that's where we went. It was everything I hoped it would be (except for a lot of rain). The only problem was Parks and 7 month old baby Tage had to stay home :( And I was still nursing. So that made things difficult. But we had an awesome time and we are better parents now.

The 7 year itch

2009-04-02T09:16:00.004-06:00

Happy anniversary to us! March 29th marked 7 years of marraige for Jared and I. Check him out with hair! He looks so different. I love thinking back to our wedding day and remembering the events of that day. Like when I showed up late to the temple (imagine that) and Jared thought I was standing him up. Or when the sealer made us kiss twice over the alter because our first kiss was so lame it could have been saved for our grandparents. One of my favorite memories of the day is when Jared threw the cake in my sisters face instead of mine. It was hillarious and totally took her by surprise. Anyway, i feel so lucky that he's put up with me for this long. And very, very grateful for all he does for me and our crazy boys.

Happy St. Patricks Day!

2009-04-02T09:15:00.005-06:00

Not my favorite holiday. I never remember to wear green and I don't like getting pinched. Infact, I woke up by Parker pinching me first thing in the morning. I have found, however, that holidays are much more fun with Parker around. Even this one :)

We had green waffles and milk for breakfast(and green baby oatmeal for Tage)!

When Parker got home from preschool he found a note from a Leprechaun on our door. Aparently the creepy little guy broke into our house while we were gone and left some clues for Parker to find some of his buried treasure. I cannot comment on Parker's outfit. Atleast he had green on!

Some of the treasure that was found in our backyard

We finished the day with a green bubble bath. It's great how easily amused kids can be.

That's my boy!

2009-02-08T17:07:00.003-07:00

My baby is 6 months old! I'm so in love with him. He definitely brings a sweet, happy spirit into our house. He also doesn't sleep through the night and has really bad exema all over his body. Poor baby:( He loves to smile and laugh, play patty cake and peek-a-boo, run with mommy, and put everything in his mouth. Even celery. He's a whopping 14 pounds and 27.7 inches long. That puts him in the 4th percentile for weight and 90th for height. Maybe I should start subbing the celery for some beef stick! He's a skinny but cuddely baby who has us all (especially daddy) wrapped aroung his little fingers.

It's that time again!

2009-02-08T16:39:00.005-07:00

Racing season! I guess it's actually a little early, but not if you head down to sunny St. George! The weather was absolutely beautiful. It was hard to train for a half marathon in January with all the inversion and ice, but it was well worth it. Thanks Casey and Tish for your fantastic hospitality! We owe you!

Don't you love how they take pictures of you during the race? Seriously, I did NOT want to know that I looked like this. My pictures were hideous.

I love Parker in this one though. He ran about 20 yards with me to cross the finish line. Then for 30 minutes after the race he kept telling me how tired his legs were from running a race with me :)

Nice job Keri on your first half marathon! You're ready to do a full now!

Snow day/week

2009-02-08T16:20:00.006-07:00

Thank goodness for dads. I just want to give a shout out to my man Jared for playing in the snow so much with Parker. I'm not a fan. At all. I do enjoy the hot chocolate afterward though :)

This one's my favorite!

Unfortunately Daddy's sometimes take it too far. Like throwing a bunch of freezing cold snow in thier 4 year olds face. Parks was ready to come in after that and enjoy some hot chocolate with his mom.

It's never too late!

2009-01-30T21:30:00.005-07:00

I made a New Years resolution to have all my Christmas pictures posted before January was over. And I made it! Just kidding. That was not on my resolution list. Truthfully, Jared is just at the Jazz game (without me) and the kids are in bed. So I figured I could do a little blogging. Better late than never.

Christmas Eve was as Jared's parents. Here we are doing the Nativity scene. Anna as Mary, Connor as Joseph, and Tage as the reluctant baby Jesus (I think he was worried about how big of a role he was playing and was trying to protest.)

Here is the entire cast. I can't remember who played the wise men and shepherds ect. All I know is T.J. made a fantastic donkey :)

Nana (Jared's mom) Made all the grandkids these incredible blankies. It was love at first sight for Parker.

Papa and Tage

Christmas morning for the little guy and IRONMAN! Most of our footage was on the video camera. That makes scrapbooking easy.

Oh ya, and here is my Christmas present wrapped so nicely. Merry Christmas to me!

It's how you know it's Christmas time

2009-01-30T20:59:00.006-07:00

Pre-school made candy houses

Christmas tree shaped PB&J's

Christmas countdown chains

Christmas tree set up

Friends from out of town that we NEVER EVER get to see come visit (We miss you Em and Anthony)

Annual sleepover and movie by the Christmas tree (kinda hard when your baby doesn't sleep through the night)

Traditional fam picture in front of the tree

I'm so sad it's all over :(

Time for a haircut

2009-01-21T22:10:00.003-07:00

Tage lost all of his baby hair except for a little patch on the top of his head. It was kinda long and stringy and was quite the contrast against the rest of his shiny bald head (like father like son). So we decided to shave it off! I was really sad at first, but it blended nicely and you couldn't even tell when we were done.

I love my new camera

2009-01-21T21:58:00.003-07:00

Grabbin Tage

2009-01-21T19:48:00.003-07:00

These pictures are from a few months back when Tage was about 4 months old. I love this stage when baby's discover things and start to reach for them. He's concentrating so hard! I love his little tongue.

Pampered Chef cooking show

2008-11-30T21:52:00.002-07:00

Anybody interested in yummy free food and amazing product? Or just a night out away from the kids? Well then come to my Pampered Chef cooking show! My great friend Keri is going to show us how it's done and also tell us what products are hot for Christmas presents this year. Pampered Chef cooking tools are affordable and high quality. My mom has been spoiling me with them for years and I'm hooked now. They seriously have the coolest stuff and I'm not even a very good cook! So come check them out for yourself. It's at my house on Wednesday Dec. 3rd at 7:00. Please comment here if you're interested so we know how many to plan on. It will be a real TREAT!

What a way to start the day!

2008-11-13T21:55:00.002-07:00

I get to see this beautiful view 3 mornings a week! And I LOVE it! I have never been a morning person...EVER. But I have been getting up to get my butt kicked at 5:30 AM for the past few weeks at my friend's bootcamp. As most of you know I work in the fitness industry and I'm here to tell you, if you want to get in shape, get motivated, or change up your boring fitness routine, this is the way to go. It has been so much FUN for me (yes, I said fun), and a great way for me to get back into shape after having a baby. I DARE you all to come and join me! You won't regret it.
For more info., either call me or go to

www.wasatchbootcamp.com

Witches and spiders and black cats too...

2008-11-13T21:08:00.006-07:00

You better watch out or they'll scare you!

Parker has been entertaining us for over a month with the Halloween songs he learned in preschool. Here is a recap of all our Halloween fun. I'm so glad it's over!

We started the festivities with the Cornbellies Corn maze at Thanksgiving point with Brooks;

Then on to see the Witches at Gardner Village with Brynleigh. These two are quite the little characters.

We picked our pumpkins from a local pumpkin patch. Parker wanted ALL of them. We settled for one for each of us. Tage got a baby one.

Then we had to carve our pumpkins. We stopped after one. Next year we'll have to buy some tools or something to make it easier.

While my boys carved, I cooked up some pumpkin cookies. Mmmmmmmm

Started Halloween day off right with a nice healthy breakfast. After that it was "Bring on the sugar"!

Jared and I decided to dress up this year. I've decided that I like Jared better skinny :)

4 Year old pictures

2008-11-11T23:03:00.002-07:00

Thanks to my friend Val who did an amazing job on Parker's pictures. It was so simple and comfortable. We just went to our little neighborhood park down the street and she put her talent to work. Parker is such a poser and is famous for his "Blue Steel" face. I think Val was able to capture all of his funny faces and make them look so cute.

One year older and wiser too

2008-11-08T12:39:00.008-07:00

Parker is 4!!! My little buddy is growing up WAY too fast. He had so much fun on his big day. He woke up to streamers, balloons, and happy birthday signs decorating the house. He went straight down stairs to open his presents. I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life and allowed Jared to get him some Legos. I almost had a heart attack when I looked at the bucket and it said "400 pieces"! Ya, those haven't been very fun to clean up. He got "Chutes and Ladders" from his baby brother and blueberry muffins and fruit for breakfast. Later he went with his Nana and Papa to lunch and to pick out a present from the toy store. He, of coarse, came home with a huge "Iron Man" toy that is really loud and annoying. Why are adult movies made into kids toys? He doesn't even know who Iron Man is, but aparently he thinks he's cool. Jared surprised him with the day off work (more for Jared than Parker I'm sure) so as soon as Parker got home we were off to a movie, Kung Fu Panda (for the 2nd time) and dinner at Wingers (his choice). Grandma and Grandpa Springer came over that night to sing happy birthday and watch him blow out candles. It was a very fun day to celebrate the life of our cute, crazy Parker.

Some of Parker's favorite things

singing
reading books
watching movies
playing with toys
playing with friends and cousins
his baby brother
preschool
computer games
primary
drawing pictures
flexing his muscles
having "sweet moves" contests with daddy (pure entertainment)
mommy and daddy
building things with daddy
fruit leather
icecream
PB&J's

Tage's big day

2008-11-07T20:04:00.002-07:00

Tage was blessed on October 12th. He was so dang cute. I gave him a bottle right before he was blessed so he would be happy. Then I worried the whole time that he was going to puke during the blessing. Instead he was super happy, talking and cooing right up until it was his turn. As soon as the blessing was finished and Jared sat down next to me, Tage barfed right into my hand. Nice timing. It was a very nice day (besides the snow) and we were so happy for those who came to show love to our little guy.

I'm so behind!

2008-11-07T18:18:00.002-07:00

I can't believe I forgot to post these pictures of my baby! One of my friends came to my house when Tage was 2 weeks old and took these for us. None of us were cooporating very well but they turned out cute.

Em this post is for you

2008-10-03T00:41:00.004-06:00

Now you can stop sending me hate messages!

This is one of my favorite pictures because I did not pose them. They seriously love each other (for now).

These pictures were taken with my crappy old camera so they are a little blurry. Luckily my AMAZING and SWEET husband gave me a new camera for my birthday. Now I just need to figure out how to use it!

This baby LOVES to smile. He started smiling at 4 weeks old and now he entertains us all day long with his funny faces.

Seriously can it get any sweeter? This was also unposed. I sure do love my boys.

My addiction

2008-09-20T09:44:00.003-06:00

It's true that you sometimes don't realize how much you love something until you can no longer do it. I realized last week that I am truely addicted to running. It's gone beyond the physical and health benefits you get. Now I run because I have to. Now that I've reached my 6 week mark I can run again! I went for a short jog last week and smiled the whole time. Cars passing by me probably thought I was a freak. There's just nothing like 70 degree weather and Bonjovi to cheer me up. As i was running today though, i felt something hit my foot. I looked behind me and almost said a bad word. Two dogs were chasing me and one was right on my heels. I don't know how I didn't see or hear them before (maybe Bonjovi was a little too loud). So I turned around and led them back to the nearest neighborhood so they didn't get hit by car because I hate when that happens. Anyway, after that I had another great run. It's so good to be back!

Happy Happy Birthday!

2008-09-20T09:28:00.002-06:00

To my HOT husband who just turned the BIG 29!!! His big day was actually on the 12th but we're a little behind. A couple of nights ago Jared and I were talking about our rough dating history before we were married and how awkward we were even though we had known each other for so long. It made me realize that though I was extremely difficult (no need to go in any more detail about that) I know now that I have always loved him. It just took me a long time to figure that out. And I'm so glad I did! We are so thankful for all you do for us. You work so hard and make it seem like no big deal. We love you! (even if you are really old now).

Here's a message from Parker (because he won't stop bugging me as I type). jt yjiuhmoyyyyiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim/n/hjuyj j.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,ikoooooooluloiiiiiparkerjihgikjkjmhjmnjnjjjjjmkjki

It's raining, It's pouring

2008-09-01T13:18:00.003-06:00

I have the sick feeling our summer is coming to an end. Don't get me wrong I love the fall, but I feel like summer just got here! And the thought of winter around the corner already makes me sad. Yesterday we had the rare experience of staying home after church. We usually rush right out to one of our parent's houses for dinner. But we kept it simple yesterday and stayed home. Before dinner we did one of my favorite things and played out in the rain! I even bit my tongue and kept quite while Parker and I splashed in the puddles.

Parker and Jared racing sticks

And following them to see who the winner is

And because I'm slightly obsessive about having clean floors...

Also, a big Happy 1 month birthday to baby Tage! Look how big he is! I took him to the Dr. this week and he's already 9 lbs. 12 oz!

More pictures

2008-08-07T22:23:00.005-06:00

So ready to leave the hospital! Get us out of here!!!

Handsome Tage in his going home outfit.

First things first at the Bowcutt house. As soon as we got home from the hospital...family nap time!!!

It's amazing how fast we became smitten with this little guy. I knew we would love him, but I was worried about sharing my love between him and Parker. I can honestly say that I can't get enough of him! Every facial expression, every sound he makes makes my heart smile. We are all obsessed. Especially Parker.

I looked in the baby's crib to find this, Parker said his baby brother wanted a toy to play with, so he gently placed his bat next to him. It could have been much, much worse.

To top off a very exhausting and emotional week, my big boy started preschool today!! He was so so excited. Especially when we told him Jared and I wouldn't be going with him. He thought he was such a big boy.

I did a lot better than I thought I would. I had my meltdown last night when I realized Parker was starting preschool and my baby was a whole week old. Where does time go?

Baby Tage

2008-08-01T21:58:00.004-06:00

Our baby is finally here! Tage Charles Bowcutt made his dramatic entrance last Wednesday, July 30 at 9:40 pm. He was 7 lbs. 6 oz and 21 inches and his feet are freakishly long. He is absolutely perfect and we just hold him and stare at him all day long. I was scheduled to be induced on Thursday the 31st but Tage wanted it to be a surprise so he came the night before. And we're so happy he did!

Here is his "wrinkly old man" picture.

Parker's first reaction to the baby. We didn't have a lot of time before we left to the hospital to tell him that we were going to have the baby. So I think he was a little confused. He just kept staring at us.

It didn't take long though. He loves his baby brother and wants to hold him and look at him all the time. He's so concerned for him and if the baby isn't with us Parker has to know exactly where he is and what he's doing

Our family

Proud mom and dad

Proud big brother

Parker helping me eat my lunch. The baby gave Parker this Power Ranger costume at the hospital as a "look out big brother cuz I'm about to rock your world" present. I think it did it's trick because Parker is so good with the baby so far.

Thanks everyone for your nice thoughts, phone calls etc. We are all happy, healthy, and trying to catch up on our sleep!

Grass, dirt, and 4th of July fun

2008-07-22T15:13:00.007-06:00

We had a very busy 4th of July weekend. We started out by laying sod in our backyard. I can't stand having dirt in my house and on my child so I must give myself some major props. I was so good! I let Parker roll around in that big pile of dirt without saying a word! Jared was really proud of me. In the 3 day process of leveling the yard and laying the sod I think Parker had like 6 baths. I was also up until 2:00 am the night after the sod was put in cleaning my house. There is nothing like a clean house and a clean kid to help you sleep better right?

We were lame parents on the 4th and didn't take Parker to see a parade or anything. Infact, the only way he saw fireworks was because we just so happen to be at my parents house that night and the neighbors were lighting fireworks so we joined in on the fun.

Besides putting grass in our backyard, we also cleaned the cars, the walls, the floors, the laundry room, painted and hung bead board in the baby's room, then cleaned the garage.

Here are my boys hard at work. (Pictures of the baby's room will come soon)

We did manage to have a little fun. Parker ran through the sprinklers and we went swimming in our neighborhood pool. Man, I'm tired just remembering all of this!

Oh ya, AND I'm still pregnant! Seriously! This picture was at week 38. I'm now at week 40 and still counting. For all you people who have baby's early, I hate you.

It's time

2008-06-17T16:20:00.000-06:00

Our blog is finally going private. I've been wanting to do it for months now and have never taken the time. I just feel it's right and don't want to expose my cute family to any crazies out there. Please leave me a comment with your email address so I can add you to my list. We don't want to lose touch with anyone.

Fun in the sun

2008-06-16T22:18:00.000-06:00

We had so much fun in Sand Hallow this year. I think I mostly loved it because my brother Ben didn't force me into the cold water like he usually does, and Andy didn't call me a woss for not wanting to. Being pregnant does have it's perks. The first day we seriously just stayed on the beach all day. Atleast I did. The boats would come and go with more people, but for the most part we just relaxed and had fun. The kids (and Jared and Brad) had a "war" over the "island" that they were playing on. It was so funny to watch the big boys (Jared and Brad) having more fun than the little boys (Lake, Hayden, Cole, and Parker).

Parker and Mckinlee playing in the water. It was so much fun to have Keri and her kids come play for a day.

Jared on the wakeboard

Lake, Parker, and Hayden on the tube. It was Parker's first time on the water and I was hoping he would be a little more afraid of it like I am. Not so. He was doing all kinds of tricks on the tube. Spinning around backwards, leaning forward and trying to tip the tube over, and letting go of the handles. Lets just say I was a nervous wreck! I really don't think I took a breath until he was safely back on the boat with me. I know he has a life jacket on and was fine, but I'm a freak. I have never seen him have so much fun though. His smile was priceless :)

Just loving the sunshine

My brother Ben with his little guy Freeman. This picture was too sweet to pass up. Thanks for letting us play with your boat Ben. I mean Lesha. I need to give a serious shout-out to the babies of this trip, little Free and baby Hudson. They were AMAZING! Give me a baby like that any day.

Picture this

2008-06-12T23:26:00.000-06:00

So here is what I look like right now. I'm 34 weeks which means only 6 weeks to go. Woohoo! I actually don't mind having another 6 weeks (of coarse I might change my mind if we ever get 90 deg. weather). I'm feeling pretty good. Atleast I was until tonight.

Now picture me, large belly and all, slipping belly and face first into a big mud puddle. Yep. That's what happened to me tonight. Jared and I were trying to sneak into a house that was just built in our neighborhood that nobody lives in yet. I was going to try to step OVER the mud like Jared did, but I thought it was too far and I might lose my balance. So instead I stepped right in the mud, in my flip flops, and ended up on my stomach covered in mud. Jared unfortunately was already in the house and missed it. I couldn't get up so I just said, "uh, Jared, HELP!" Then I asked him if he wanted to mud wrestle. I was seriously covered. It hurt my stomach and back so bad but I couldn't stop laughing! Can you imagine what the neighbors are thinking? I really hope somebody saw it because it was so classic. Jared had to hose me off before I could even go in the house. All is well though. My baby has been moving like crazy so he's either really mad at me for squashing him, or he's totally fine.

Memorial Day

2008-05-30T09:40:00.000-06:00

I know Memorial Day seems like so long ago, but this crappy 48 degree weather today reminded me of the fun day we had. Plus I got my hot chocolate too hot and I needed something to do while it cools off a bit (HOT CHOCOLATE in JUNE?! This is crazy!) So I'm updating the blog while I wait.

We had plans to go on a pic nic up in the canyons, but that wasn't going to happen with the weather. So instead we sat at home ALL DAY long! Parker and I were getting a little restless so we had to get creative.

We tried to "chalk" our driveway but it was too wet and rainy. So we moved to the front porch. After about 10 minutes I was done (and freezing) so we went inside and played every game Parker owns...twice. What fun.

Jared decided to sit in front of the T.V. and not play with us. So we left him a message on the front porch.

He did decide to join us for lunch in the sweet fort we built. Only if he could go buy himself a bag of Cheetos to eat though (Don't worry, I think I ate more than he did).

It was nice to have a relaxing day to remember those loved ones we've lost.

Soccer Stud

2008-05-29T15:58:00.000-06:00

It's very interesting watching 3 year olds play soccer. The first game I wondered why the heck we were doing this since the ball ended up out of bounds 99 % of the time. But I must say, these kids have shown some serious improvement! They are actually developing skills! Parker scored his first goal last week and was SO proud. He talked about how he "stole the ball from the other team and scored a goal" all week long. It really was pretty cool.

He even talks trash to the other players! Too bad this kid is on his team :)

Jared was lucky enough to be volunteered as the "coach".

Here is Parker dancing on the field. Earlier in the season he spun webs at the ball.

Where a kid can be a kid

2008-05-22T10:57:00.000-06:00

Parker put the last sticker on his good choice chart a few weeks ago so we went to Chuck-e-cheese! Jared had a day off during the week so he was able to come with us and we had so much fun.

Does anyone else think that Chucky and his friends are a little creepy? I don't know why kids like them. I was a little freaked out when we got close.

Parker was worn out by the time we got home (my plan worked perfectly :). He likes to use my big belly for a pillow. He has gotten kicked a few times by his little brother though. I love to see his face when he feels my belly kick. He gets a big smile and says, "Hey, that baby just kicked me!"

Mother's Day

2008-05-12T12:00:00.000-06:00

Here are some highlights:

-delicious breakfast waiting for me when I got out of the shower

-being spoiled by my boys

-getting a Cinderella "princess book" from Parker that he insisted Jared buy for me

-having Parker sing with the rest of the primary in sacrament meeting with the biggest smile i've ever seen on his face

-the Jazz beat the Lakers

-not having to clean up after dinner

--thinking about how lucky I am to be a mom and how many wonderful mothers I have around me that set a great example.

Happy Mother's day everyone!

*Quote of the day from Parker,

"After we have mothers day and father's day, lets have kids day!" Little does he know, every day is kids day.

It's PLAYOFF TIME!!

2008-04-22T10:59:00.001-06:00

(Marti, this picture is for you)

Whew. 2 games under our belt. After this series with the Rockets I might have to take a break from the NBA playoffs. It's not good for a pregnant girl to be under this much stress! Jared won't let me wash his D-Will jersy as long as the Jazz keep winning (luckily he has no involvement in the laundry process around here so he'll never know). Parker is loving this playoff season because he thinks whenever there is a Jazz game on it means treats while we watch it! He's so involved in the game it's starting to make Jared and I think we've created a monster. He knows when to call out "offense" and "defense" and he makes us rewind something that he's missed (especially if it's a cram or a "swat team"). Gotta love it baby!

Half way there

2008-04-22T10:39:00.001-06:00

This good choice chart is working like a charm! Parker's half way prize was this sweet Buzz Lightyear costume. I got it on Disney's website for 11 bucks! Good deal huh (thanks for the tip Keysha!) He's actually way past the half way point now but these pictures were so funny I had to post them. He's only got one more row of stickers until his chart is completely full. Then for the grand prize. What am I supposed to do when the chart is full? Does that mean no more good choices?

This is Parker and his cousins Kenzie and Sedelle.

This is about a week later. He wears this costume everywhere. He was helping Jared make some frames for our wall. It was so cute because he went and got his plastic tools and started sawing and drilling just like Jared was. Lucky for Parker, he had super space ranger powers helping him with his project.

Finally, sheesh.

2008-04-13T21:50:00.000-06:00

To celebrate our 2 month anniversary of being in our new house, I've decided to finally post some pictures of it. Really, It's just taken me this long to unpack :)

Front porch and entry way

Kitchen and dining area (Jared's favorite spot).

Kitchen and toy room/loft area

It's still a work in progress as we paint some of the walls and hang things on the walls. But we LOVE IT HERE!!!!

Future missionary

2008-03-30T21:18:00.000-06:00

Parker is really into his bedtime routines. Every night (in this order) he brushes his teeth, we read 2 stories and the Book of Mormon, Jared tells him a story about Batman and Captain Moroni getting bad guys, and I sing him a song. I try to mix things up a bit to throw him off but he gets so mad. As soon as I introduce a song that he likes, he makes me sing him that same song every night for a week. He's a nut. The past few weeks I've been singing this song and once again I was surprised when he started singing it a few days ago, word for word (well kind of). Sometimes he makes up his own words. I think he gets that from my dad.

Easter festivities

2008-03-28T14:59:00.000-06:00

Dying eggs was fun this year because littl P actually knew what he was doing. We did pretty well, only one big spill! He thought it was the coolest thing and just scribbled all over the eggs.

He really like these ones but we somehow consumed them within minutes of being made and they never made it to the big hunt. Oh well, they sure tasted good!

We braved the FREEZING cold weather and went to the park for an Easer egg hunt and picnic with some of my family. We had a blast playing tennis and I think a new tradition was born! Parker was a pro!

Easter morning...

Isn't this the cutest table! I think the Easter bunny brought it more for me than for Parker. I love it.

Problem solved?

2008-03-24T10:00:00.000-06:00

Parker's been having some serious 3 year old moments lately. For real, the terrible two's were nothing compared to this. The problem is that he's so dang smart and he tries to talk his way out of everything. It used to be so funny that he would sucker me out of getting him in trouble (Jared's still a big sucker). But now I'm just plain sick of it. Parker's really aggressive and he will kick or hit or throw things if he's told "no" or asked to do something he doesn't want to. So we came up with a "Good Choice Chart" to see if he would follow it.

As soon as it gets half way full of stickers he gets to pick a toy. And as soon as the chart is all the way full he gets to go to Chuck-E-Cheese! These were prizes that he picked of coarse.

At first I thought this was going to work perfectly. But as soon as we were done making the chart and he had earned his first sticker, he spent the next 30 min. throwing a huge fit because he wanted to go to Chuck-e-cheese's "RIGHT NOW!". He thought he was going to fill the chart up in one day I guess. Anyway, as soon as we got past that, things have been running smoothly. We're keeping our fingers crossed for sure.

A look at my life...

2008-03-14T16:32:00.000-06:00

I went to a wedding today of a good friend who has been like a little brother to me since I can remember. While we were sitting there in the celestial room listening to the sealer, I had an insight to my life. I realized even more today how blessed I am. Not only to be living at this time, but to be this close to a temple, to have an eternal family, and to be in this stage of my life that I'm in. It really made me not want to get old because my life is so content right now. I'm so excited for what the future holds, but at the same time I would like this part of my life to stick around for a while. I realized that I need to do what I can to make it count. To be better in all aspects of my life: wife, mommy, daughter, sister, friend, neighbor, etc. Anyway, I feel refreshed. Thanks Luke and Hollie for lettting us be a part of your day!

It's definetly NOT a girl!!!

2008-03-02T10:25:00.000-07:00

That's right, little boy # 2 is on his way to the Bowcutt fam! I am so excited I can hardly stand it. Jared was really hoping for a girl that could be his "little princess" but he'll have to wait. I honestly don't know what I would do with a girl. Probably play dress up every day and shop way more than I could stand. So this works out perfect! Plus Parker is so happy to have a baby brother. Every time we told him it might be a sister he freaked out. He and Jared actually got in a fight about it once. Parker ended up kicking Jared and running away in tears. It was funny. When I told him he was going to have a brother the first thing out of his mouth was, "Oh, daddy's going to be so mad". Jared's actually really excited too though. We have no idea what we're going to name this kid so if any of you have any GOOD ideas, send them our way. (Parker says his name is going to be Ninja Turtle, but hopes he doesn't come out green). Got to love 3 year olds :) We're finally getting settled into our new house, so I'll post pictures soon.

This was taken about a month ago at 16 weeks pregnant.

These were taken this week after we found out we were having a boy. I know, I'm huge. I was only going to post one but Parker's face in the other was something I just had to share.

Best Valentines day EVER!!!!

2008-02-14T22:48:00.000-07:00

So the day didn't start out all that great. What do you know, snow again. I got up early so I could make sure Jared had breakfast and by the time I found my car (burried in 3 feet of snow) I was in a huge hurry. I then risked my life to drive across 7800 south to get Jared a Betos breakfast burrito (if you've never tried one, don't. They are 100 % terrible for you and the best thing you will ever sink your teeth in to). I somehow managed to get him his Valentines breakfast before he left for work. Luckily the day got better as it went on. I went to American Fork to help in my cousin's flower shop which was a blast as always. But the best part of the day came later when I got my Valentines present from Jared.... A new house!!!! I feel like we have been waiting for this day for 10 years. He's going to have a hard time topping this gift next year. It is finally official.We have our keys and everything!!!

To make it even sweeter, I was starving on our way to get our keys and Jared refused to stop and get me something to eat. I was so mad! Here I am pregnant and starving, and he won't even take 5 minutes to get me a Subway! He kept saying, "Let's just hurry and get our keys then we'll get you something to eat. I just thought he was impatient and selfish. But as we walked into our new house there it was...Cafe Rio. He had my brother go to our house ahead of time and set up a little card table with our food on it. It was a blessing from heaven. And our first meal in our new house! What a day.

Spring Fever

2008-02-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

We've all got it (except for maybe my sister Wendy who is wierd and actually likes winter). But I am going CRAZY in this cold! We did have a little glimpse the other day when we had a high of49 deg. It was amazing. Did anyone notice the stars that night? You could actually see them! I don't know when the last time I was able to see the stars in the sky. I loved it. Anyway Spring, please hurry. I can't wait for early morning Springtime jogs outside. They are my favorite.

Let Them be Little

2008-01-21T21:38:00.000-07:00

I heard this song on the radio and it made me want to be a better mom. I even cried while I watched the video. Parker is just growing up too fast and I feel like I'm pushing him to grow up faster. Jared and I have actually let him read stories in our bed the last few nights. Then we have "family snuggle time" where he sometimes falls asleep by us. I would NEVER allow that in the past. But this song opened my eyes. I have no idea how to post the video straight from youtube so all I can do is the link. Watch it though, you'll love it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBu_yXGF2Uw

Christmas memories

2008-01-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

Handsome boys on Christmas Sunday.

My mom has a tradition of lighting Lumineers (sp) ? between her house and her neighbors house the night before Christmas Eve. It's really kind of cool.

I started a tradition back in middle school to sleep out by the Christmas tree the night before Christmas Eve. We carried that tradition over the years. It was a lot of fun this year with Parker, but I must admit, it was one of the worst nights sleep I've ever had. It was fun to be all together as a family though.

Jared reading the Christmas story in Luke 2.

This was the funnest Christmas morning ever! It's so much more fun to play Santa than I ever thought it would be. Seeing Parker's face light up when he saw what santa had brought him was incredible.

Hugging his castle that Santa brought for him.

Parker was dead set on getting Jared a "D Willy" jersy for Christmas. It was all his idea. I was surprised that he kept it a secret until Christmas. This is him giving his gift to his daddy.

He then of coarse got his Boozer jersy to match his dads. We've created a monster :)

It's about time

2007-12-28T14:51:00.000-07:00

Parker's Christmas present to our parents...

Santa Clause is Coming To Town

2007-12-24T23:52:00.000-07:00

We had to visit Santa 3 different times this year. Parker kept changing his mind on what he wanted and insisted that Santa knew of each change. He was so serious when telling him what he wanted. On our last visit (I'm kicking myself for not bringing my camera) he actually sang Santa a song! He sang "Santa Clause is coming to town". Santa and the photo ladies were looking at me like, "Are you kidding me?" It was great.

And who can resist this picture? I think Parker will be the next Derick Zoolander. I took it on my phone and all I said was, "Parker, look over here so I can take a picture of you". And this is the look he gave me. This kid is something else I tell ya.

Oh the first snowfall of the winter...

2007-12-24T23:41:00.001-07:00

The first snowfall is just about the only one I like. Parker on the other hand could live in the snow.

"Over the top" baby!

2007-12-24T23:28:00.000-07:00

It's going to be close. They're both pretty strong.

And the winner is...

Parker! Check out his "victory face". He had just finished watching clips from "Over the Top" where he learned the proper techniques in arm wrestling. Plus he ate his vegitables all gone which makes him strong.

2 babies!

2007-12-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

They are now 2 months old, but I still need to give a shout out to my TWO nieces Hallee and Ava Bowcutt! These identicle beauties seriously look EXACTLY the same! Their own dad can't tell them apart. We are having so much fun with them. Thanks Nate and Lynette for having twins so we can enjoy them... then give them back!

Playing with the boys

2007-12-24T22:45:00.000-07:00

Can you tell Jared grew up with a house full of boys? We had a sleep over with all of the boy cousins on the Springer side and they kept Jared entertained, or he kept them entertained. I can't tell who was having more fun. Of coarse play like this always ends with someone crying. I'm happy to report that it wasn't Jared.